Where were the "Republicans need to rethink/rebrand/fix..." threads after the 2020 election?

[GAinDC]

Did I miss them? I don't remember many blue avatars having an ounce of introspection after Trump lost the 2020 election by almost five points. I actually don't remember many even admitting that he lost.

Yet, after Harris' 1.5% loss, many Dems on here (rightfully) want to learn some lessons and come back stronger.

Why are Dems always the ones who are expected to grovel after they lose an election, while Republicans can just deny or deflect and wait for the tides to turn in their favor?

[Zenobiyl]

Because they thought it was stolen

[GAinDC]

Because they thought it was stolen

yup

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Plus, Trump came within a hair of winning despite having a disastrous term. Republicans didn’t need to change a thing.

[GAinDC]

Plus, Trump came within a hair of winning despite having a disastrous term. Republicans didn’t need to change a thing.

depends how you define it. He was closer in all the swing states, but did much worse in the popular vote. I know that doesn't determine the winner, but it has consequences for races down ballot and the ability to claim a mandate.

[TheReckoning]

Evidently, they didn’t have to.

[GAinDC]

Evidently, they didn’t have to.

they probably needed to in the 2022 midterms, though

[Crane]

Evidently, they didn’t have to.

they probably needed to in the 2022 midterms, though

The answer was to start demonizing trans people, apparently. And it worked.

[darklordoftech]

For some reason, 2020 was interpreted as a defeat for "the Resistance" and "wokeness" in spite of the fact that Republicans lost the Presidency and the Senate.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Their election denial made it so they didn't have to.

And clearly they didn't have to learn anything, like after 2012. They get rewarded for learning nothing because Americans too are incapable of learning. That makes the party identifiable.

Meanwhile, whenever Democrats lose (even when they win like in 2020) the whole party has to be exterminated and a phoenix has to be born from its ashes.

It's just more, typical double-standard s*** for the parties in this garbage, s***hole country.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Their election denial made it so they didn't have to.

And clearly they didn't have to learn anything, like after 2012. They get rewarded for learning nothing because Americans too are incapable of learning. That makes the party identifiable.

Meanwhile, whenever Democrats lose (even when they win like in 2020) the whole party has to be exterminated and a phoenix has to be born from its ashes.

It's just more, typical double-standard s*** for the parties in this garbage, s***hole country.

Republicans did pivot hard after 2012 though.  They moved away from Paul Ryanism on economic policy and actually ran to the middle on “religious right social issues” .

[Averroës]

They didn't need to talk about it. That's not how the party works. Democrats have a lot of hangers- on who need the sing for their supper and a base that loves getting schooled by verbose generalists. Republicans don't have an Ezra Klein, and the Steve Bannons of the world don't talk about "branding."

The funny part is that Trump acted like he was rebranding anyway. He stopped talking about Mexicans and instead came up with a story about escaped Congolese prisoners. He replaced Mike Pence with someone more in keeping with the aspirations of the modern Reblican family man. He introduced new slogans like No Tax on Tips. He campaigned in states where the commentariat insisted he had no business.

I wish that the Harris campaign  knew how to rebrand like that. Instead it was full of people who only know how to talk about it.

[Mr. Smith]

Trump gained votes, the Senate was initially retained [arguably sabotaged by Trump], and there were gains in The House.

That's not a rejection by any means.

[darklordoftech]

The funny part is that Trump acted like he was rebranding anyway. He stopped talking about Mexicans and instead came up with a story about escaped Congolese prisoners. He replaced Mike Pence with someone more in keeping with the aspirations of the modern Reblican family man. He introduced new slogans like No Tax on Tips. He campaigned in states where the commentariat insisted he had no business.

More like the media stopped covering his insanity, giving the impression that he had rebranded.

[Averroës]

The funny part is that Trump acted like he was rebranding anyway. He stopped talking about Mexicans and instead came up with a story about escaped Congolese prisoners. He replaced Mike Pence with someone more in keeping with the aspirations of the modern Reblican family man. He introduced new slogans like No Tax on Tips. He campaigned in states where the commentariat insisted he had no business.

More like the media stopped covering his insanity, giving the impression that he had rebranded.

That would be quite a conspiracy. I never had trouble finding coverage of Trump's rallies. But that's beside the point. He changed how enough people thought about him to win the election. His favorability polling is better than it's been in years, even after what he did to Mike Pence.

Democrats did well enough with the Harris roll-out, but they struggled to make her feel like anything other than a new face on the same old. The timeline did them no favors, but neither did their media strategyy, insofar as that matters.

[JorgeVasquez]

[GAinDC]

some of them are.

Why is skin lightening cream so popular in many South Asian and East Asian cultures?

Why are white-passing Latino groups historically more Republican?

Why are Cubans given asylum benefits that other nationalities would never receive here in the US?

Why do some recent African immigrants look down on the existing Black community?

Why did so many Arab Americans claim to vote for Trump over Gaza, even though it's clear he is no friend to the Palestinian people and has been colluding with Netanyahu?

[JorgeVasquez]

some of them are.

Why is skin lightening cream so popular in many South Asian and East Asian cultures?

Why are white-passing Latino groups historically more Republican?

Why are Cubans given asylum benefits that other nationalities would never receive here in the US?

Why do some recent African immigrants look down on the existing Black community?

Why did so many Arab Americans claim to vote for Trump over Gaza, even though it's clear he is no friend to the Palestinian people and has been colluding with Netanyahu?

This is bait to get me muted

[ProgressiveModerate]

I think some of it just has to do with the types of people that make up both parties - people who are chronic overthinkers and perfectionists seem more likely to skew Dem, while people who are more carefree skew more Republican

[Farmlands]

some of them are.

Why is skin lightening cream so popular in many South Asian and East Asian cultures?

Why are white-passing Latino groups historically more Republican?

Why are Cubans given asylum benefits that other nationalities would never receive here in the US?

Why do some recent African immigrants look down on the existing Black community?

Why did so many Arab Americans claim to vote for Trump over Gaza, even though it's clear he is no friend to the Palestinian people and has been colluding with Netanyahu?

When you live in DC and only talk to ultra-progressives who have no idea what the average Hispanic or African immigrant life experience is, and so you just default to the good old white supremacy explanation for any GOP votes.

[He's turned to dust now, one of the chosen few]

Why is skin lightening cream so popular in many South Asian and East Asian cultures?

Doesn't this sort of practice predate the era of European colonialism in these parts of the world by quite some time and have roots in other aesthetic ideals? (To be fair, I imagine these days it interacts a fair bit with the factors you're pointing towards here.)

[Chief Justice PiT]

     Using Atlas to try to gauge blue avatar sentiment after a loss is a fool's errand, because the signal-to-noise ratio here is bad enough that a lot of people won't bother engaging with it. I was of the mind that Trump was dead weight and the GOP needed to move on from him, but I didn't see a point in discussing it on the forum.

[GAinDC]

some of them are.

Why is skin lightening cream so popular in many South Asian and East Asian cultures?

Why are white-passing Latino groups historically more Republican?

Why are Cubans given asylum benefits that other nationalities would never receive here in the US?

Why do some recent African immigrants look down on the existing Black community?

Why did so many Arab Americans claim to vote for Trump over Gaza, even though it's clear he is no friend to the Palestinian people and has been colluding with Netanyahu?

When you live in DC and only talk to ultra-progressives who have no idea what the average Hispanic or African immigrant life experience is, and so you just default to the good old white supremacy explanation for any GOP votes.

All of these things I listed are true. They’re not things that I created out of thin air “in my ivory tower.”

So how else do you explain it? White supremacy is in every aspect of our society. That’s a fact.

[GAinDC]

Im also not saying Dems shouldn’t take a look in the mirror after this loss. Obviously we made mistakes and took some voters for granted. But at least I’m willing to discuss it honestly, even if not everyone agrees with me. Four years ago, all the Republicans could say was that the election was stolen.  I won’t ever let y’all forget.

[jaichind]

In 2016 and 2020 the tipping point state was very close and both losing parties can make a case of doubling down on existing strategy.